Our Chemistry Lover

Kian's back on a chemistry kick. He was a couple of years ago when we first moved to Missouri. We used to visit the amazing science store in Parkville where he bought assorted tubes and chemicals with his birthday money. Then he moved on to a fascination with computers. Now he's into both chemistry and computers.

The other night he came into the living room to browse the bookshelves before going to bed. He gets to stay up an hour later than the girls do to read in bed. I was glad to see him perusing the chapter books; I thought he might pick up a new novel to read. When he turned to go back to his bedroom, however, he had a college chemistry textbook in one hand and a dictionary in the other. Just a little light reading before bed.

In December I took the Cub Scouts on a field trip to tour the local fire station. The Fire Chief went on and on about safety and then showed the boys and their families around the equipment and trucks and 911 call center. It was fun overall. During the Fire Chief's speal on fire safety, he explained that you can't put a grease fire out with water. They discussed the correct way to put out a grease fire. Kian raised his hand with a question which the Fire Chief eventually recognized. His question was (and this is from my memory of the occasion), "When you use water on a grease fire, does the high heat from the grease fire turn the water into hydrogen and oxygen molecules?" The question doesn't sound so difficult to answer now, but in the moment it was so technical and out of place, Matt and I both quietly told him his question was too specific to be answered. I heard the Fire Chief say something like, "Well, I don't know about that." And I heard Kian mutter to himself after being shushed by us, "It's not too technical to me."

Last night as I peeked my head into Kian's room to tell him it was time to turn the light off and to go to bed, he said, "Wait, I have a question." I stalled for a moment and replied, "Yes?" He asked, "Does your velocity equal your speed divided by your mass?" I answered, "I'm not sure, Kian, we'd have to look that up." Because obviously, I didn't know the answer. He was already moving on to his next thought before I had even finished answering him, "I don't get it... It seems like you'd want a low speed and high mass so it should be velocity equals your mass divided by your speed..." The conversation was already over. He was really just saying his thoughts out loud. As I turned off the light and closed the door, I heard him muttering science formulas to himself and I smiled. I probably got the speeds and the masses all mixed up from his question. I can't remember exactly what he said. But I wrote it down as soon as I could find a pen and paper after leaving his bedroom.

Finally, Randi observed something about Kian while she was visiting here for a few weeks which she pointed out to me. She noticed that when Kian gets upset at me when he feels unjustly punished or angry, he mutters mathematical equations under his breath to deal with it. I heard it under his breath as he was filling the wood box (which he felt was already full). "If a equals b to the power of 3 and b equals 3..." It was hilarious.

He's our chemistry lover. That's for sure. Oh, and when he doodles, he draws molecules.